We have a name! And a Q&A session with Tannin regarding the new mod manager.

[ReaperTai]

In response to post #49984342. #49985262, #49989507, #49992427 are all replies on the same post.

Bonechip wrote: Great update.... thank you.

Request: Can it be made so the website reflects what you have installed?

IE: If I have BadAssGunMod001 installed... when I visit the mod's page, or see it in a list, it will show "Installed".

When you have over 200 mods installed, it is sometimes easy to forget when one is trolling around looking for more.

sgtmcbiscuits wrote: That's actually a great idea! Especially when changing modlists between playthroughs and such, it can be easy to forget what all you have. Even better would be if mod authors could state which mods are incompatible with others, and if it sees that you have that mod installed, it could warn you. That one would definitely be harder to support, as it requires authors to do a little extra work rather than the site doing it automatically, but for casual users that don't understand incompatibilities and the like, that would be a lifesaver

Gribbleshnibit8 wrote: A lot of extra work that would quickly go out of date. Not really possible, no matter how convenient it'd be.

SorrelKat wrote: Do you want mod authors to devote time to developing, or to doing things like this? Choose...

Actually I do see a middle ground here. There is already a format for required mods popup so simply add another optional popup for incompatibilities that can be filled in like the required. If or as any arise the author has a option to display them that way.

[cyrusmagnus]

In response to post #49991932.

NightroModzz wrote:

I don't really see any good reasoning or meaning behind the name "Vortex." It sounds like a name a teenager would come up with because they think it sounds cool. Likely most of the people that voted on that name in a pole were teenagers and teenagers likely make up a majority of the community (maybe accept for the majority of mod authors).

 

Like mentioned in another post, it's fairly easy to make jokes about the name. Maybe you can get away with a made up name like a lot of products and companies, but nobody is really going to grasp what Vortex is or the meaning. At the core nature and complexity of what this tool is, a single word for it's name isn't all that great an idea. I couldn't help but cringe when I heard the name you all decided on. I just hope it isn't final.

It's except, not accept. As in, an exception to the rule, "except for the majority".

Accept is used to receive something; you can accept an award, for example.

Call me old fashioned, but I like the names "Nexus Mod Manager" and "Mod Organizer". When I was going through school getting my computer science degree, we were taught to name our variables with nomenclature that designated the purpose of the variable. If you had a variable that measured the rate at which something moved you wouldn't name it "x" you'd name it "velocity" or even "theRateAtWhichSomethingMoves".

Are they coding a mod organizer/manager, or are they creating a vortex, which really doesn't even make sense since a vortex is only something based upon it's parts, contextually or specifically.

If I say, "Oh wow, look at that vortex!" you won't know what I'm even talking about. Vortex requires further explanation, a vortex of "something". Energy, water, time/space... typically fluids. Vortex describes a kind of motion, not a thing. It's a really odd noun in the English language.

If anything, it seems like the maker of the nexus just has a thing for two syllable words with X's in them. lol

Vortex, "a whirling mass of ..." water, air, energy, fire... etc. Mods? A whirling mass of mods? Is that what they're going for? I don't really want my mods being a whirling mass... I want them organized, or managed. Handling mods doesn't need to be flashy or branded.

We just want a mod organizer that's going to work well. Call it whatever you want I suppose. The name isn't going to matter. Vortex sounds like a flash in the pan though, and won't tell anybody what it is from the name. Ever heard of Minion? It's an addon/mod manager. Yeah, I didn't think so.

[BryanMichaelD3]

In response to post #49989912.

Exchange324 wrote: Would like to see an option, when choosing between 2 textures, to visually compare them both, just 2 images opened at once, it won't be too hard to implement, but will help a lot believe me. Thx

I second this. That would be super helpful!

[Superpan2256]

In response to post #49991932. #49994147 is also a reply to the same post.

NightroModzz wrote:

I don't really see any good reasoning or meaning behind the name "Vortex." It sounds like a name a teenager would come up with because they think it sounds cool. Likely most of the people that voted on that name in a pole were teenagers and teenagers likely make up a majority of the community (maybe accept for the majority of mod authors).

 

Like mentioned in another post, it's fairly easy to make jokes about the name. Maybe you can get away with a made up name like a lot of products and companies, but nobody is really going to grasp what Vortex is or the meaning. At the core nature and complexity of what this tool is, a single word for it's name isn't all that great an idea. I couldn't help but cringe when I heard the name you all decided on. I just hope it isn't final.

cyrusmagnus wrote: It's except, not accept. As in, an exception to the rule, "except for the majority".

Accept is used to receive something; you can accept an award, for example.

Call me old fashioned, but I like the names "Nexus Mod Manager" and "Mod Organizer". When I was going through school getting my computer science degree, we were taught to name our variables with nomenclature that designated the purpose of the variable. If you had a variable that measured the rate at which something moved you wouldn't name it "x" you'd name it "velocity" or even "theRateAtWhichSomethingMoves".

Are they coding a mod organizer/manager, or are they creating a vortex, which really doesn't even make sense since a vortex is only something based upon it's parts, contextually or specifically.

If I say, "Oh wow, look at that vortex!" you won't know what I'm even talking about. Vortex requires further explanation, a vortex of "something". Energy, water, time/space... typically fluids. Vortex describes a kind of motion, not a thing. It's a really odd noun in the English language.

If anything, it seems like the maker of the nexus just has a thing for two syllable words with X's in them. lol

Vortex, "a whirling mass of ..." water, air, energy, fire... etc. Mods? A whirling mass of mods? Is that what they're going for? I don't really want my mods being a whirling mass... I want them organized, or managed. Handling mods doesn't need to be flashy or branded.

We just want a mod organizer that's going to work well. Call it whatever you want I suppose. The name isn't going to matter. Vortex sounds like a flash in the pan though, and won't tell anybody what it is from the name. Ever heard of Minion? It's an addon/mod manager. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Yes, I would prefer a more "boring" name. You can tell that Nexus Mod Manager manages mods that have to do with "Nexus" from the title, and you can tell Mod Organizer organizes mods. Vortex is some whacky space thing, and there's no real way to tell it has anything to do with modding.

[ozoak]

If Vortex will have virtualization "more like NMM" and a UI "more like NMM", why not call it by its real name--NMM 0.7?

 

 

Unfortunately, so long as Vortex lacks the same virtualization system as the original Mod Organizer, I'll be yet another person who doesn't plan to use it.

 

I have to agree. I'm pleased we've had an update, and I know Tannin you've said that proper VFS isn't permanently off the table, but the two greatest strengths of MO were the VFS and the (I'm going to say it) simple drag and drop reordering and priority organisation. The later is merely (I mean no disrespect) an orderly UI and process, whilst the first, the VFS, is a technological superior solution. I understand that it may have been a solution looking for a problem, as you say, but without it...this feels a bit disappointing.

 

Anyway, sorry for the criticism but if we all just shut-up about it you might not get a real appreciation for how much *we* appreciate the vfs :)

What it provided was brilliant, really, and if whitelisting Vortex in any antivirus is really a factor in the decision to not pursue it, then I think we're not giving enough credit to users; so many things require whitelisting these days, it's not really a 'tech-head' thing any more. I'm sure there's more to it than that one factor, but it really would be the one thing I would keep from MO if I had to get rid of everything else.

 

That said, how will Vortex handle running a multi-user shared environment, ie: one PC, multiple Windows users using same game (not simultaneously, of course)?

[Olivir2019]

I have used MO for quite some time, but not anymore. As I tend to go back to older BSG games, then back to Fallout 4, Skyrim SE and so on, my mod manager of choice is Wrye Bash.

 

MO is great, no doubt, but in my opinion it is still a niche software (as Tanin says). Vortex must be mainstream and for more games with completely different ways of handling mods.

 

Besides, MO users are probably never going to leave that one. Also, whatever choice would have the developers made, the comment section would still appear this way - only the names of posters would be different.

[choochoo1]

So this answered a lot but my big question now is will Vortex be able to handle big mods better than NMM? I know NMM sometimes has issues installing big mods, will this be the case here as well?

[KunoMochi]

In response to post #49982472. #49983957, #49985507, #49987442 are all replies on the same post.

Tannin42 wrote:

So, does this mean Vortex is going to retain copies of mods we download? So for example, getting a new version of say SMIM from Skyrim is a massive influx of data. Is it going to be able to handle those large files without issue? And can it properly dump them when I want them removed, either because of an upgrade, or because I no longer want the mod?

 

Not sure I understand the question. When you install a mod you basically have 3 steps:
- download the mod
- install the mod (into a separate directory)
- enable the mod

At this point you have the original archive from nexus which you are free to delete to free up space or not.

You have the installed mod. If there was an installer, this is only the selected options. No files here get deleted or replaced by other mods

Finally, you have a bunch of links to the files in the game directory.

 

You can disable the mod and it will remove the links and of course you can remove the mod altogether.
I'm not aware of any problems with large files, SMIM didn't cause any trouble in my testing.

Hackfield wrote: I think what he meant it's, when you download a mod with NMM, the zip file is stored in the "mods" folder of NMM, when you install it, it decompresses the file into a folder and creates the symlinks, but the original zip file is still in the "mods" folder.
At this point, a mod is actually using twice the space needed (zip file + decompressed folder, really noticeable in large mods like SMIM or texture mods that can reach easily a GB or more).

In MO you could delete the downloaded zip file to save space and the content of the mod would still be installed, but in NMM, if you delete the downloaded zip file, NMM removes the mod completely.

KunoMochi wrote: Actually, you can remove the mod archive in NMM and the mod will still stay installed.

When NMM extracts/decompresses the mod archive, it is momentarily extracted/decompressed to the NMM Temp folder. Once finished, the files get moved into the Virtual Install.

You might want to check where the Temp folder is located at in the NMM Settings.

Hackfield wrote: Well, NMM options are: uninstall from current profile, from all profiles and "delete mod (permanently) and uninstall", there is no option to delete the zip file only.

If you delete the zip file manually, NMM will prompt an error and "uninstall" that mod claiming that it couldn't find it (It doesn't actually delete the files, but removes the mod from NMM, losing management control over it and all its assets).

Well, yes. The current NMM depends on whether or not it sees the mod archive in the Mods folder for proper management, but you are still able to enable/disable and manipulate the plugin in the load order list. After all, the mod files are still installed.

If you were to insert the archive back in, NMM should allow you to manage the mod like before again. You just might need to restart NMM for the mod to appear back on the list.

Although I've never tried, you might be able to insert a dummy (empty) archive with the same file name to keep the mod management without having to keep the real archive around.

[Jebbalon]

In response to post #49991932. #49994147, #49995812 are all replies on the same post.

NightroModzz wrote:

I don't really see any good reasoning or meaning behind the name "Vortex." It sounds like a name a teenager would come up with because they think it sounds cool. Likely most of the people that voted on that name in a pole were teenagers and teenagers likely make up a majority of the community (maybe accept for the majority of mod authors).

 

Like mentioned in another post, it's fairly easy to make jokes about the name. Maybe you can get away with a made up name like a lot of products and companies, but nobody is really going to grasp what Vortex is or the meaning. At the core nature and complexity of what this tool is, a single word for it's name isn't all that great an idea. I couldn't help but cringe when I heard the name you all decided on. I just hope it isn't final.

cyrusmagnus wrote: It's except, not accept. As in, an exception to the rule, "except for the majority".

Accept is used to receive something; you can accept an award, for example.

Call me old fashioned, but I like the names "Nexus Mod Manager" and "Mod Organizer". When I was going through school getting my computer science degree, we were taught to name our variables with nomenclature that designated the purpose of the variable. If you had a variable that measured the rate at which something moved you wouldn't name it "x" you'd name it "velocity" or even "theRateAtWhichSomethingMoves".

Are they coding a mod organizer/manager, or are they creating a vortex, which really doesn't even make sense since a vortex is only something based upon it's parts, contextually or specifically.

If I say, "Oh wow, look at that vortex!" you won't know what I'm even talking about. Vortex requires further explanation, a vortex of "something". Energy, water, time/space... typically fluids. Vortex describes a kind of motion, not a thing. It's a really odd noun in the English language.

If anything, it seems like the maker of the nexus just has a thing for two syllable words with X's in them. lol

Vortex, "a whirling mass of ..." water, air, energy, fire... etc. Mods? A whirling mass of mods? Is that what they're going for? I don't really want my mods being a whirling mass... I want them organized, or managed. Handling mods doesn't need to be flashy or branded.

We just want a mod organizer that's going to work well. Call it whatever you want I suppose. The name isn't going to matter. Vortex sounds like a flash in the pan though, and won't tell anybody what it is from the name. Ever heard of Minion? It's an addon/mod manager. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Superpan2256 wrote: Yes, I would prefer a more "boring" name. You can tell that Nexus Mod Manager manages mods that have to do with "Nexus" from the title, and you can tell Mod Organizer organizes mods. Vortex is some whacky space thing, and there's no real way to tell it has anything to do with modding.

My opinion matters as much as others in this thread ... I think Vortex is great - In the context of the Nexus and all mods for all games coming to the center in a Vortex for me to enjoy as I use the managing tools it provides .... Sounds good to me.
Look at the Nexus Logo at the top left of page - See? It's been there the whole time!
Well, I can see it anyway.
Keep up the good work Robin and Tannin! :)

[BoredErica]

As somebody who goes around to many texture packs separately and makes adjustments and notes on individual files, going in and out of folders and mod folders, I am a bit worried about the more NMM like system. I don't know the NMM system and it's hard to imagine how anybody could improve upon that system for how I was using it.

 

I don't sweat the name Vortex. I find it easier to type than NMM anyways, having to press and hold the shift key.

 

Good luck, I'm sure the guys know this is a very important project.

Edited May 11, 2017 by dark_wizzie